Danger of Devotion

Those who are supposedly wiser for all the doldrums of washed out years whisper words of caution into their children's ears about how to guard their hearts and keep their enemies close, and yet still, paradoxically, press those flimsy paper valentines into their hands at those first grade parties in a thousand frozen Februaries, sparking the starry wonder of a little girl longing for the snow angel dress congealed someday in satin. And they sometimes belittle her when she first expresses those strange spasmodic flutters of attraction,the fate of maybe one wayward glance across a room. Later on, those empty souls will see their speeches fall on the closed mind's eye of that girl: she remembers something they have long since forgotten.What it really means to love someone and to feel like you are perfectly at home in their arms. It might seem to their vapid philosophy that she is reckless, treacherous, foolish or blind,but what she has discovered is that a heart is more than just a heart, and that love can be made manifest in a kiss or even painted in blood on a forsaken cross.

About the Author

Jennevie Stephenson is a freshman at Grand Valley State University studying animal science. Throughout the course of her life, she has found that writing poetry is a healthy creative outlet for whenever she feels overwhelmed by anger, frustration, fear or sadness. It has helped her to express what she cannot say to another person's face. Through a series of difficult times she has emerged a stronger person, and this reflects itself in her writing.